Isolation and characterization of a new CO-utilizing strain, Thermoanaerobacter thermohydrosulfuricus subsp. carboxydovorans, isolated from a geothermal spring in Turkey

A novel anaerobic, thermophilic, Gram-positive, spore-forming, and sugar-fermenting bacterium (strain TLO) was isolated from a geothermal spring in Ayaş, Turkey. The cells were straight to curved rods, 0.4–0.6 μm in diameter and 3.5–10 μm in length. Spores were terminal and round. The temperature range for growth was 40–80°C, with an optimum at 70°C. The pH optimum was between 6.3 and 6.8. Strain TLO has the capability to ferment a wide variety of mono-, di-, and polysaccharides and proteinaceous substrates, producing mainly lactate, next to acetate, ethanol, alanine, H₂, and CO₂. Remarkably, the bacterium was able to grow in an atmosphere of up to 25% of CO as sole electron donor. CO oxidation was coupled to H₂ and CO₂ formation. The G + C content of the genomic DNA was 35.1 mol%. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and the DNA–DNA hybridization data, this bacterium is most closely related to Thermoanaerobacter thermohydrosulfuricus and Thermoanaerobacter siderophilus (99% similarity for both). However, strain TLO differs from Thermoanaerobacter thermohydrosulfuricus in important aspects, such as CO-utilization and lipid composition. These differences led us to propose that strain TLO represents a subspecies of Thermoanaerobacter thermohydrosulfuricus, and we therefore name it Thermoanaerobacter thermohydrosulfuricus subsp. carboxydovorans.